


This is the One

by theartistprince



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Beyond fluffy followed by hot sex, F/M, Other, happy friday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-20
Updated: 2013-04-20
Packaged: 2017-12-08 23:27:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/767325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theartistprince/pseuds/theartistprince
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jehan has longed for Cosette from afar for a while.  Finally, he gets the courage to ask her out (after some mild law breaking and a hell of a run).</p>
            </blockquote>





	This is the One

**Author's Note:**

> So this is for my favourite First Mate on the S.S. Fucking Adorable, Katy. Hope this makes gets your weekend on the right start. Title is from The Stone Roses.

For the first time in Jehan’s life, words fall short.

It isn’t simply that she’s beautiful. If her charms stopped there, he would easily be able to spin tales of her pretty face and stunning body.

Cosette was far more than that. Jehan could say she was kind, but how could he even hope to convey the breadth of her charitable acts, the soft smiles she gave to passing children, how she steadfastly cared for her father? Jehan could say she was fun, but even a thousand words could never describe the swooping sensation in his stomach when her nose crinkled in amusement or her eyes turned glassy after half a bottle of rosé or the way her golden hair swung when she threw her head back with laughter. 

He tries to come up with words to describe her, but they don’t exist in French. They don’t exist in English or Latin or even Italian. For the first time in his life, Jehan finds that language cannot convey the depth of emotion that he feels and he has to rely on action instead.

It started with a single flower. 

It was a peony that Jehan had shamefully plucked from the Jardin de Luxembourg on is way to the Café Musain that fateful spring morning. He had acknowledged the signs that declared “ne pas cueillir les fleurs!” but, in a fit of passion, boldly decided to ignore it.

This was Jehan’s chance! The opportunity he had been waiting for! He could give Cosette this small token and sweep her off her feet! Surely that was more important than stealing a simple flower in such an immense garden?

Though he had reconciled his reasoning with the tiny law he might have been breaking, that didn’t stop him from running as fast as he could to the Musain. Just in case.

After all, love was not a solid defence to a police officer, even if Jehan was a staunch believer that it should be.

Jehan burst through the door of the Musain, drawing stares from the other occupants. He knew he probably looked like hell. He could tell that just by the sweat that was beginning to gather on his forehead. He was panting heavily, his hair dishevelled beyond belief with one shoulder of his cardigan slipping off his shoulder, the peony was cradled closely to his chest.

Éponine raises an eyebrow at him from her usual spot behind the counter. She gives him a once over, taking in the flower that is clutched protectively in his palm. “She’s in the back,” Éponine informed him with a knowing look.

Jehan froze in place, panic washing over him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Éponine,” he lied as smoothly as he could muster between heaving breaths.

“Bullshit,” Éponine retorted as she began to wipe down a mug. “You don’t hide your emotions very well, mon ami.”

Looking down at the flower in his hand, a sharp feeling twisted in Jehan’s stomach. “You don’t think she knows, do you?” He asked quietly, hoping that where ever in the back Cosette was, she wasn’t privy to the current conversation.

Scoffing, Éponine put down the mug and leaned against the counter. “Trust me, she’s nearly as clueless as you are. Now go give your lady love that flower!” Éponine exclaimed with an encouraging smile. “It might just work out for both of us,” she added under her breath before turning back to her work. 

Unsure of what Éponine could possibly mean by that remark, Jehan made his way through the café. The journey took longer than usual, dread weighing down on him with every step.

His breath catches when his eyes fall on her, as it always seems to. She’s taken a table by a window, the streaming light pouring down on her golden hair, almost making her glow. One hand was clutched tightly in the tresses as she held a book open with another. She was gnawing slightly on her bottom lip. 

Jehan took a deep breath and began to approach her. He hid the peony behind his back and cleared his throat softly.

Cosette let out a noise of frustration and slammed her book shut. Jehan felt his heart stall as she clutched the edge of the table. “I’ve already told you no-oh!” Cosette exclaimed as she finally laid eyes on Jehan. Immediately her composure softened and she offered the panicking man a smile.

“I’m so sorry, Jehan!” She exclaimed, motioning to the chair that sat opposite her. “There’s just been this random guy who won’t stop asking me out.”

Jehan shifted the peony from behind his back to under the table quickly as he sat down. “Is there a particular reason you said no?”

“Ugh!” Cosette exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. “You wouldn’t believe this guy! First, he told me that the main reason he’s interested in me is because of my ‘giant rack’,” Cosette informed, using air quotes. “And that he wouldn’t need to turn off the lights when he was with me! Can you believe that?”

A rise of anger took over Jehan. The idea that someone could speak like that to a woman, to objectify her right to her face, was not something he could abide by. “Absolutely not,” Jehan gritted out.

“Me either,” Cosette said before settling back against her chair. “Why can’t all guys be like you?” She asked before tucking a long lock of her hair behind her ear. “I bet you would never speak like that.”

“Never,” Jehan confirmed, laying one hand flat on the table between them. “I would never speak to you, to anyone, like that.”

Cosette’s smile softened as she reaches over the table to lay her hand over his. “You’re one of a kind, Jehan Prouvaire.” 

She began to softly trace the pen marks that seem to perpetually mare his hands, using her nail to follow along with the words that spring to him throughout the day that he tends to write on the top of his hand. Jehan wills himself to look away from their hands and back up at Cosette.

“I admit, Cosette, that my reasons for approaching you are incredibly selfish,” Jehan started, earning a confused look from Cosette. Much to his dismay, she drew her hand back and rested it in her lap. Jehan quickly extracted the flower from under the table and handed it over to her. “I picked this for you!” He exclaimed suddenly, before wincing at the eagerness of his tone.

Cosette reached over the table to accept the offering. “Thank you,” she said politely, though it was clear from her tone that she was still curious about his intentions. 

Clearing his throat, Jehan steeled himself. “Cosette, it would be an honour to take you on a date.”

“A date?” Cosette repeated slowly. She pondered the proposition for what could have only been a moment, but Jehan was sure that time stood still.

“Yes, of course,” Cosette said finally, still sounding slightly hesitant. “Of course I’ll go on a date with you, Jehan.”

-

Jehan’s hands were twitching with the nerves that coursed through him as he sat in front of a café in Montmartre. After his proposition to Cosette, they had mutually agreed that they wouldn’t tell their friends until they saw how the date went.

After all, dates were hard enough without your friends breathing down your neck.

There was also the chance that the date would go horribly and Cosette would never want to spend time with Jehan again and Jehan didn’t know if he could handle the looks of sympathy his friends would shoot him if this was to be the case.

(And with every passing minute that Cosette was late, Jehan was fairly sure it would be.)

After a few more minutes, Cosette jogged up to Jehan, looking spectacularly dishevelled, not unlike the day that Jehan had asked her out. She looked at him sheepishly as she tried to fix her hair, which was windblown.

Jehan found himself taken aback. Though her eyeliner was slightly smudged and sweat was beginning to tinge her brow, Jehan was still fairly sure he had never seen a more beautiful sight he had ever seen. She was wearing a short black dress under a pink cardigan with black high heels adorned on her feet, her lips painted a dark red.

“You, um,” he stuttered, feeling outrageously unlike himself. What was it about this woman that struck down the trait he admired most about himself: his ability to manipulate language? “You look wonderful,” Jehan finished.

Cosette looked at him doubtfully, her fingers still tangled in her long hair. “I doubt it,” she said with a small smile. “I just ran from the Métro station. Can you believe I missed two trains? I hate being late.” 

Jehan shrugged. “I don’t mind,” he said honestly. “I would have waited forever.”

Cosette’s attention snapped to him and she smiled a little brighter at him. “I would never make you wait forever,” she responded before lacing her arm through his. As they were already friends for the last several months, there was a certain comfort in the date that wouldn’t have been there if they were strangers. “So where to? What brings us all the way to Montparnasse?”

Jehan cleared his throat, trying to not let her close proximity get to him before tugging her in the right direction. “I thought we would start with dinner?” He began. “Then maybe a walk?”

Cosette readily agreed and allowed Jehan to lead the way towards a small restaurant. 

“The restaurant we’re going to used to be called The Dingo Bar,” Jehan explained. “In the 1920s, it was one of the favourite hang outs for the Americans who came to Paris to be inspired. I know how much you love Fitzgerald and I thought you would be interested in it.”

“That’s where Fitzgerald met Hemingway,” Cosette said with a smile, tightening her grip on Jehan’s arm slightly with her excitement. “I can’t wait.”

Jehan felt a surge of pride swell in him at a choice well made. 

Before long, they stepped into the small Italian restaurant and were settling into their seats before Cosette’s burning curiosity could no longer be ignored.

“I need to ask you, Jehan,” Cosette began. “Why did you ask me on a date?”

Jehan froze, wracking his mind at the question. The poet had always been a horrific liar (and that was being kind), so he opted for honesty.

“I fell for you a while ago,” he admitted with a shrug, playing with the napkin in his lap. “You just seemed to light up any room you walked into. You’re so wonderful and funny that I can feel my heart swell whenever I see the breadth of your kindness. I couldn’t help myself,” he admitted. “I thought that even if I could just go on one date with you, I would be happy for a long time, just knowing that you gave me a chance.”

Jehan forced himself to look at Cosette. Her cheeks were flushed and her smile was broad as she reached across the table, silently urging him to place his hands in hers, which he did immediately.

She let out a soft laugh before flicking her hair out of her face. “I highly doubt it’ll just be one date, Jehan.”

-

There was a time, not too far in the past, where Jehan used to look at the couples in the Jardin de Luxembourg with envy. He longed to lounge for hours on the grass, looking up at the clouds next to someone he loved, stealing kisses and sharing lunches.

With Cosette, he barely even realizes that there are other couples around. He was far too entranced with his own girlfriend, braiding flowers (he had purchased them this time) into her hair as she read him poetry. She tended to alternate styles, moving from the romantic era to post-modern without even trying to transition. Cosette told Jehan that she was just trying to keep him on his toes.

It was one of the things that Jehan loved about her.

Jehan was absolutely and without question in love with Cosette. He had known for ages that what he felt for her was unlike anything he had ever experienced before. It was the sort of love he had only read about in poems and assumed he would never be worthy of having.

He loved everything about her. The way she combed her hands through his hair absentmindedly, the smile she reserved for the elderly, how she would pick out flowers from her or Jehan’s hair and offer them to sad eyed children. He loved how the way she felt when she nestled her head into his chest as they watched TV and the way she pouted when Jehan would tease her. 

Knowing that he loved Cosette was the easy part.

Now Jehan just had to find the courage to tell her.   
“I saw the best minds of my generation,” Cosette began, trying to mimic the accent she would assume a hip American in the Beat era would have and failing miserably. “Destroyed by madness!”

“Starving, hysterical, naked!” Jehan continued from memory as he wrapped an elastic band around the end of Cosette’s hair. “Dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix!”

Cosette spun around and looked at Jehan with wide eyes. “You didn’t tell me you had Ginsberg memorized!” She exclaimed, reaching over to slap him lightly on the chest. 

“There isn’t a poet alive who doesn’t have that poem memorized,” Jehan shrugged before leaning back to lay on the blanket Cosette had spread out underneath them.

Without hesitation, Cosette leaned down to rest her head on Jehan’s chest. She laced their fingers together before pulling his hand towards her to lay a soft kiss on his knuckles.

“You always surprise me,” she commented softly, her breath coursing over their clasped hands.

Jehan sighed contentedly and squeezed her hand. “Good. I’d hate to bore you.”

“Not possible,” Cosette replied before rolling on top of him. She placed a hand at either side of his head and grinned triumphantly down. “I’ve got you!” She joked, smiling down at him.

“I love you,” Jehan blurted out suddenly. He didn’t regret the words, though he had hoped to be more prepared when he said them.

Cosette let out a small laugh, almost a breath. “You do?” She asked, her eyes welling up slightly.

“Of course,” Jehan responded, letting out a small laugh of his own. He tucked a stray piece of her hair behind her ear before beaming up at her. “I love you.”

Without replying, Cosette dropped down onto her elbows and urgently pressed her lips against Jehan’s. Jehan wrapped one arm around Cosette, bringing the other to cup her cheek. His fingers met with her tears, which puzzled him slightly.

His questions would soon be answered when Cosette briefly tore her lips from his to gasp out “I love you too” before promptly swooping down to kiss him again.

-

With Jehan and Cosette’s declaration of love, there was no question that it was finally time to announce to their friends that they were officially together. There was some slight surprise over Les Amis when Jehan and Cosette decided to come out as a couple.

“I thought she would get with Marius,” Courfeyrac muttered, causing Éponine to elbow him in the ribs sharply.

Jehan winced slightly at the remark. He already felt bad enough that he had unknowingly asked Cosette on a date while Marius had feelings for her.

Sometimes Jehan wonders if he had known before he asked Cosette on that fateful first date that Marius was infatuated with her, if he still would have done it.

He knows, somewhere deep down, that he would have. He would have stepped aside in the name of love, bore the brunt of a broken heart so his friend could find happiness. He would have watched them from afar, wondering what would have happened if he had the chance to be with Cosette.

Though it was Marius that ended up with a broken heart, Jehan can’t help but be relieved he never had to make the choice.

Grantaire laughed merrily and threw an arm around both Jehan and Cosette. “I guess the whole ‘opposites attract’ thing is bullshit, then!”

Enjolras glared at the more boisterous man and shook his head. “We’re all very happy for you, but we do have other matters to attend to.”

“What’s more important than true love?” Éponine joked. Her eyes shot over to Marius and her face immediately fell at his crestfallen appearance. “Whatever, let’s just plan this protest,” she covered quickly before moving to Marius’s side.

Enjolras nodded in agreement. “I agree, Éponine, let’s plan this protest. Everyone should take note of her positive attitude.”

And with that final statement, the announcement was over.

The rest of Les Amis settled into their usual roles as Enjolras began to get the meeting back on track and Jehan let out a sigh of relief.

It was a good thing they all already knew Cosette, as Jehan’s friends had a tendency to interrogate any stranger brought into their inner circle. 

The new couple did still receive a few curious glances as Cosette clutched at Jehan’s bicep as Enjolras began speaking.

Jehan found that he couldn’t care less. 

-

They tend to spend a lot of their time together in Jehan’s room. He shares a large apartment with Musichetta, Joly and Bossuet, but they never feel too crowded. 

Cosette tells Jehan that his apartment is just more homey than hers. “My landlord doesn’t let me paint anything,” she muttered as she gazed over at the painted flowers that littered Jehan’s wall. “And my roommate hates me. I’d rather be here with you any day,” Cosette commented before turning in Jehan’s embrace, throwing a leg over his hip.

There’s a slight scream followed by a thump in the room next door.

“Even with the insatiable trio next door?” Jehan asked with a grin.    
There was another shout.

“I think it’s romantic,” Cosette replied, smiling serenely up at him. “Just think, two friends going through life never admitting that they love each other until one day a special woman decides that she doesn’t have to pick. Now they’re the second happiest relationship that we know.”

“Second? Who’s the first?” Jehan asked. 

“You’ll have to guess,” Cosette teased before twisting a lock of Jehan’s hair around her finger.

Jehan pretended to think for a moment. “Well, it must be Enjolras and Grantaire. That’s the logical option.”

Cosette shook her head. “Not quite.”

“Marius and Éponine, then. They’ll be a couple soon enough,” Jehan offered before rolling on top of Cosette, pinning his girlfriend beneath him. 

“Maybe if Marius ever gets his head out of his ass and sees what’s right in front of him,” Cosette countered. “But they’re not a couple yet.”

“Hmm,” Jehan muttered as he trailed his lips down her neck. “You’re going to have to give me a hint, then.”

“Well,” Cosette began as she wrapped her legs around his slim hips. “Half of this particular relationship is between my legs as we speak.”

Jehan moved his hand between them to skim under Cosette’s camisole, lovingly caressing her waist. “Oh, do you mean us?” He asked, feigning innocence.

“Yes!” Cosette exclaimed, laughing loudly. “We’re a hard pair to top,” she added before lacing her fingers through his hair, pulling him down for a kiss. It wasn’t long before their kisses became more heated. Jehan skimmed his hand further up under Cosette’s top to cup her breast, running the pad of his thumb over a nipple. In turn, Cosette let out a small moan and tightened her legs around waist.

A rhythmic banging noise began from the next room, complete with the mingling of three loud moaning noises.

Cosette raised an eyebrow up at Jehan. “Why don’t we show them how it’s done?”

Jehan smiled brightly down at her before pressing his lips against hers. They were interrupted by another crash next door, which caused Cosette to giggle lightly against Jehan’s mouth.

“They really should just put the mattress on the floor with Bousset’s luck,” Cosette commented before pushing Jehan, sending the poet a fair distance away from his girlfriend. With a glint in her eye, she reached for the hem of her tank top before pulling it off, revealing her naked torso to him.

Jehan allowed his eyes to rake across her form. He didn’t think he would ever get used to seeing her like this, smirking teasingly at him, breast bared with the orange light of the setting sun caught in her golden hair.

Cosette allowed him to admire her for a few moments before playfully rolling her eyes and tugging at neck to pull him in for a kiss. Jehan gently urged her to lay back down on bed, hovering over her as their embrace became more heated. He began trailing hot, open-mouthed kisses down her neck, causing Cosette to buck her hips slightly.

“Please,” she moaned, lacing her hands into the hair at the nape of his neck. “I want you, Jehan. I love you.”

Jehan groaned into his neck at her words. They outshone any poetry that he had ever read, making his heart swell.

“You know how it pains me to mark your perfect skin,” Jehan teased, knowing exactly what it was that Cosette wanted.

Cosette moaned into Jehan’s pillow as his ink-stained hands ran down her waist. “But you’ll do it anyway, right?” She all but begged, her hand clutching his sheets tightly.

“But I’ll do it anyway,” Jehan conceded. Cosette could feel the curve of his grin pressed against her shoulder before his blunt nails dug into her hips. His long hair fell over her shoulders, before he bit down. If Cosette had the ability, she would be embarrassed about the sound that ripped from her throat at that instance, but since it was on Jehan with her, she knew she had no need to muffle her enjoyment. “I’d do anything for you, you know that?” Jehan asked, his voice muffled as he nipped along Cosette’s collarbone. 

Cosette found herself unable to reply and instead hastily reaching for his garishly stripped pyjama bottoms. She bit her lip playfully as she dragged them down, moving to her knees as she did so. Jehan moved back, shaking his pants off of his legs before moving back to kneel between her parted legs. He ran a finger across the elastic waist of her pyjama shorts before lowering his mouth to her breast, nipping softly as his hand descended further.

As his fingers finally pressed into her core, Cosette arched her back, a loud moan ripping from her throat. She could hardly hear the noises from next door as the blood thumped in her ear.

“Look at me,” Jehan encouraged, causing Cosette to snap her attention to him. His blue eyes were dark with lust as he looked down at her. “You have no idea how much I love you.”

Cosette attempted to reply, but as Jehan used his thumb to circle her clit, all she could do was pant desperately, thrusting her hips towards him.

“Keep doing that,” Jehan encouraged, moving his fingers more frantically inside of her. Cosette nodded, arching her back to grind herself on his hand. His erection pressed against her thigh temptingly and she longed to reach for it but found herself unable to unwind her hand from his hair.

It wasn’t long before she came, crying his name loudly. The muffled giggles from next door caused her to flush slightly, though Jehan just laughed. Cosette cocked an eyebrow and moved to push her pyjama bottoms off, making Jehan stop laughing as he raked his eyes over her naked body. 

Even after a few months of sleeping together, Jehan was still in awe with how she looked in this moment, seconds after her first orgasm, begging him for another with her eyes.

“I thought we were going to show them how it’s done?” Cosette asked innocently, leaning back on her elbows. Jehan looked down at her, taking note of the bright red marks littered on her breasts and collarbone that were sure to turn into bruises.

Without another word, Jehan leant down and began trailing soft kisses across her stomach and hips, holding onto her waist tightly to prevent her from withering around too much. 

“Jehan, please,” Cosette begged, lacing one of her hands through his hair to tug him up to her. Jehan complied and gazed down at her, holding himself up with one arm to caress one of his hands down her face.

“Okay,” Jehan replied and smiled down, knowing exactly what it was that she wanted from him. 

Cosette spread her thighs further apart as Jehan moved to settle back between her legs. Jehan pushed into her slowly, causing Cosette to clutch the hair at the back of his neck as she arched into him. 

“I love you,” she managed to gasp out. 

Jehan forced himself to meet her eyes as he repeated the sentiment before beginning to thrust deeply into her. Cosette’s legs wound around his waist as she desperately tried to bring them closer together.   
He pushed into her slowly, his languid pace causing her to gasp helplessly below him. He loved entering her like this, seeing every shift of her face as they connected. Her nails raked down his back as if she was desperately trying to keep grounded in midst of her pleasure. 

“Jehan,” Cosette whined as she wrapped her legs around his waist. “Faster,” she gasped.

Jehan smiled as he nipped her ear. “Anything for you, my love,” he whispered before complying with her request, rolling his hips at an increasingly rapid speed until her breath hitched and she moaned more freely.

Cosette’s hands scratched their way down Jehan’s back until her nails dug into his ass, causing Jehan to groan and drop his head to her shoulder against his will. He loved to watch her fall apart in her ecstasy but sometimes she was too much for him. 

It wasn’t long before he felt her clench around him, falling over the edge. Her legs lost their grip on him as she tried to regulate her breathing. After a few more thrusts, Jehan came with a loud groan. 

Cosette and Jehan’s heavy breathing was the only sound that could be heard for a few minutes before they could hear the giggles and moans begin again next door.

Cosette laughed loudly, causing Jehan to lift his head from her shoulder to look down at her. “I think we can take the blame for this one,” she joked, jerking her head in the direction of the other bedroom. 

Jehan smiled down at her and tucked a lock of her sweat drenched hair out of her face before pulling out of her and collapsing back on the bed. “Want to go get something to eat?” He asked after a few moments, turning onto his side to face her. 

“After a nap,” Cosette amended, tugging the discarded blanket over their naked forms and tucking herself against his chest. Within a few moments, they were both sound asleep, any thoughts of dinner far from their minds.


End file.
